Favourite childhood horse books/novels

[Doormouse]

Hildebrand - no idea who wrote it but just the best book ever about a horse who gets cursed at his christening by his Godmother (known as Nightmare) and she declares he can only eat things beginning with H. He meets a man call Horace who calls things 'hoats & hextras' so that Hildebrand can eat all sorts of things. The book is about the things that Hildebrand and Horace do together, going hunting, playing polo ect.

The best moment is when playing polo Hildebrand gets in the tea tent and eats loads of cakes and fizzy pop and in the next chukka Horace goes to hit the ball and the line reads
"Hic said Hildebrand and Horace missed it"

Also lived for the Pullein Thompson books especially the series about hunting.

 

[kiritiger]

Got to be the Heartland series - I still read them sometimes.

 

[NiceChristmasBaubles]

My friend is the great grandson of Anna Sewell. This is pretty much my only claim to fame in life

Sorry, but I don't believe she ever married, or had children. Maybe a great nephew or something like that? Not meaning to sound nasty, after 5 years of family history research, the most I've found is a distant cousin that married an apparently well respected potter that noone has heard of.

 

[Jesstickle]

Sorry, but I don't believe she ever married, or had children. Maybe a great nephew or something like that? Not meaning to sound nasty, after 5 years of family history research, the most I've found is a distant cousin that married an apparently well respected potter that noone has heard of.

Nope, could well be nephew. It's such a rubbish claim to fame I never take much notice

 

[NiceChristmasBaubles]

My favourite books were.....

Jill books
Pullein-Thompson books
Black Stallion books
National/International Velvet
Black Beauty (had the tapes as well, so remember listening to them with the 'Galloping Home' theme music)

Plus Rosina Copper by Kitty Barne
and Khazan: The Horse That Came Out of the Sea by Joyce Stranger - definitely a good recommendation if you haven't read it.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that bases a lot of their horse care/welfare on a lot of these books. Ok the days of bran mash and thatching straw under the rugs has passed, but a lot of the basic principles are still the same. Horse first and then the rider.

 

[Jane_Lou]

I can remember one book (the name escapes me, you get like that with age) where our heroine finds a pony at a sale and doesn't have quite enough money to buy it, so she has to pawn/sell her coat to get the extra money. The pawnbroker is impressed by the "good quality buttons" if I remember correctly. At the time that seemed quite logical to me - can you imagine us trying to sell off our Primark clothes to buy a pony now! Not even sure a designer coat would hack it.

The pony was called daybreak! I can't remember the name of the book but I remember the ponies name She was staying with her awful cousins who had fancy ponies and a groom but beat them all at the local show

 

[NiceChristmasBaubles]

Nope, could well be nephew. It's such a rubbish claim to fame I never take much notice

Thanks for not taking offence, but I'm a bit of a stickler with these things! She was an amazing person though and did an incredible amount for horse welfare. I have a feeling some of the money from Black Beauty still goes towards a charity, but not 100% sure on that. Apparently her brother had 7 children, so there are probably quite a few descendants from the family line.

 

[Jesstickle]

Thanks for not taking offence, but I'm a bit of a stickler with these things! She was an amazing person though and did an incredible amount for horse welfare. I have a feeling some of the money from Black Beauty still goes towards a charity, but not 100% sure on that. Apparently her brother had 7 children, so there are probably quite a few descendants from the family line.

Takes more than that to offend me. Especially when you clearly know more about it than I do!

She certainly seemed like she loved horses.

 

[NiceChristmasBaubles]

Takes more than that to offend me. Especially when you clearly know more about it than I do!

She certainly seemed like she loved horses.

Google! Always useful! But yes, before google was around I was aware that she did a lot for horse welfare.

 

[Depp_by_Chocolate]

The pony was called daybreak! I can't remember the name of the book but I remember the ponies name She was staying with her awful cousins who had fancy ponies and a groom but beat them all at the local show

I have that book in the loft I think its called I wanted a Pony

 

[SusannaF]

Thanks for not taking offence, but I'm a bit of a stickler with these things! She was an amazing person though and did an incredible amount for horse welfare. I have a feeling some of the money from Black Beauty still goes towards a charity, but not 100% sure on that. Apparently her brother had 7 children, so there are probably quite a few descendants from the family line.

I don't think any of the money ever went directly to horse welfare, and the book's long out of copyright now, but it was pirated extensively in the US by animal rights organisations (good as it spread the word, and Anna died a few months after publication – she was paid a set sum by Jarrolds and I don't think she would have gotten any royalties).
The last of Anna's line of the family died childless in 1972, so anyone else would be a far distant cousin. BUT a couple of Anna's nieces were involved with welfare campaigns, specifically for horses, and knew Ada Cole (who pretty much founded the ILPH/WHW).

 

[SusannaF]

The same happened with National Velvet. The horse in the book is a piebald called The Pie -very imaginative - though a bit of a giveaway as not being a racehorse as such in the Grand National, I would have thought! In the film, the horse is solid coloured. Not such fun.

There was a real "The Pie" and he was piebald and owned and ridden by Enid Bagnold. Jumped everything and was nuts

 

[SusannaF]

Yes! Think they were The Difficult Summer and possibly Jump To The Stars; sure others will correct me.

Jane Badger's got the full bibliography (and interviews with Gillian) here

http://www.janebadgerbooks.co.uk/ponybooksfile2/gillianbaxter.html

 

[rainbow84uk]

Ooh so many memories from all your posts!

There's another book I loved but I can hardly remember anything about it, just that it was really sad and I used to get it out of the library every few months and cry every time!

I must have been reading it in the mid-90s and it seemed quite modern at the time, American and aimed at teens rather than kids. It was about a rebellious girl (maybe her parents had split up or something?) gradually befriending a difficult/dangerous black stallion and eventually racing him around a track. There was definitely a very sad ending...

Does anyone have a clue what I'm on about?!

 

[Maesfen]

I'm sure I'm not the only one that bases a lot of their horse care/welfare on a lot of these books. Ok the days of bran mash and thatching straw under the rugs has passed, but a lot of the basic principles are still the same. Horse first and then the rider.

Definitely, glad I'm not the only one that did/does that! They taught us such a lot, not least that it pays to work hard for what you want and to always put the horse first.

There's a great book called Fiander's Horses by Brian Fairfax Lucy. It's about a girl, just left school and wanting a horse but has no money so works with them for experience until she can avoid her own. She works with hunters, a dealer, a private home that drives and rides and a trainer's. It taught me so much and I'd read it every time I changed jobs as there was always something else you found in it that helped and it made me feel not such an idiot if it was a different type of job to what I was used to.

 

[cariad]

Was there really? I didn't know that. They always say you should write about what you know.

 

[cariad]

In reply to Jane Lou, I'm going to have to look it up now as you may well be right! One of my other favourites is about a girl who has 3 ponies, Symphony, Serenade and Solo who are all very different; one is a show jumper, one a show pony and Solo I think a show cob, which allows her to enter just about everything, but she gets her come uppance in the end and learns the error of her pot hunting ways. Ah, happy days!

 

[cariad]

i should have said I was replying to Susannah F's post on The Pie.

 

[SusannaF]

i should have said I was replying to Susannah F's post on The Pie.

It popped up in a biography of Enid Bagnold that I read which discussed some of the real people and horses who inspired the book. The partial models for The Browns weren't very pleased to be immortalised, apparently

 

[fidleyspromise]

i think this is coyote summer?

 

[sunshine19]

Definitely, glad I'm not the only one that did/does that! They taught us such a lot, not least that it pays to work hard for what you want and to always put the horse first.QUOTE]

Not only that, they remind me so much about my own childhood, most books we can relate too.

Long warm summers, making picnics and being out on our ponies all day exploring. My friend and I used to hack out for hours. Nobody fretted, nobody worried, we always came home when we were hungry

Most villages had an annual gymkhana, chase me charlies with no saddles, pony racing, H&S would have a fit now

Life was so simple back then, I love re-reading these books, they bring back so many warm memories of an innocent childhood

 

[samcrob]

What a great thread!
Some books that haven't been mentioned which I loved as a child (and still do) is the Linda Craig Mysteries by Ann Sheldon.
Has anyone read these? Briefly about a young girl who, if i remember correctly, goes to her uncles ranch because her parents died. She then has a palomino mare called chica d'ora. Which they then manage to go on great adventures together.

 

[Badders]

I had to reply. I love this thread. I have just hijacked my daughter's identity to do so coz I can't log in on mine , it's being strange!
I'm BaddersSnr!
Doormouse....I absolutely loved Hildebrand, my favourite story ever. But no-one that I have spoken to knows what I'm talking about when I mention it! I think it was in a collection of stories I was given as a child, the book also contained the story 'The Maltese Cat' by Rudyard Kipling, which is also fantastic. Never fails to make me cry though!

 

[MurphysMinder]

My favourite books were.....

Jill books
Pullein-Thompson books
Black Stallion books
National/International Velvet
Black Beauty (had the tapes as well, so remember listening to them with the 'Galloping Home' theme music)

Plus Rosina Copper by Kitty Barne
and Khazan: The Horse That Came Out of the Sea by Joyce Stranger - definitely a good recommendation if you haven't read it.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that bases a lot of their horse care/welfare on a lot of these books. Ok the days of bran mash and thatching straw under the rugs has passed, but a lot of the basic principles are still the same. Horse first and then the rider.

Ermm, I have been known to still thatch straw, and give the occasional bran mash.
So many of these books bring back happy memories. Joyce Stranger ws a good friend of my mums, other horse books she wrote were "Breed of Giants" about shires, and Zara.
I loved the Chincoteague books so much I had Chincoteague as my affix when I started breeding GSDs, not a brilliant idea as no one could pronounce it.

 

[MurphysMinder]

Not only that, they remind me so much about my own childhood, most books we can relate too.

Long warm summers, making picnics and being out on our ponies all day exploring. My friend and I used to hack out for hours. Nobody fretted, nobody worried, we always came home when we were hungry

Most villages had an annual gymkhana, chase me charlies with no saddles, pony racing, H&S would have a fit now

Life was so simple back then, I love re-reading these books, they bring back so many warm memories of an innocent childhood[/QUOTE]


Yep, used to disappear for the day and would only have been about 9 or 10. We also used to pretend we were Red Indians, charging round bareback with ponies in headcollars, and dare I admit no hats!

 

[angrovestud]

It was Natonal Velvet that inspried me to breed coloured racehorses I have to skewbalds I just need to breed a piebald there sire is a piebald,A book can inspire your future more than you think. the combination of the TV series the white horses added to the dream to run a coloured racehorses thus brought about our coloured TB stud !hah a life based on pure fiction what bliss

 

[Doormouse]

I had to reply. I love this thread. I have just hijacked my daughter's identity to do so coz I can't log in on mine , it's being strange!
I'm BaddersSnr!
Doormouse....I absolutely loved Hildebrand, my favourite story ever. But no-one that I have spoken to knows what I'm talking about when I mention it! I think it was in a collection of stories I was given as a child, the book also contained the story 'The Maltese Cat' by Rudyard Kipling, which is also fantastic. Never fails to make me cry though!

Finally I have found someone who understands Hildebrand! I have always had the same problem, no one has ever heard of him which is such a shame because it is a fantastic book. I gave it to my OH to read a couple of years ago and he was hooked!

The Maltese Cat is also a great favourite, and yes, it makes me cry too!

 

[Dubsie]

ditto this.

I now have a full collection of the Punchbowl series and the Romney Marsh series.

Although in the books it's TamZin not Tamsin.

Hence my daughters are called Tamsin (I forgot it was spelt with a Z) and Marissa (Rissa) (Clarissa in the books). !

I've got a daughter called Tamsin too!

I've not yet re-collected my full set of Monica Edwards - my parents passed my vast collection (couple of hundred) pony books on to my cousin's daughter. I had a few new ones with Christmas booktokens but mostly collected secondhand.

Another book I liked was The Wednesday Pony by Primorse Cumming, also Gaze at the Moon by Joanna Cannan. My friend and I could quote vast chunks of the Jill books, and often threw in a line from Jill in class when answering a question!

 

[gonehunting]

Google Monica Edwards and you will find a wonderful publisher who is re issuing them all in unabridged paperback, many of the old Armada paperbacks were abridged. Also a society which has issued books about her. An author who was such a formative influence, though sadly I was never able to go smuggling or be a White Rider! The one I could never find was called the Midnight Horse, I eventually found it in the middle of a second hand book of pony stories. I was sorry to hear of the fate of the real Meryon perhaps that's why the last of the Romney Marsh books is so serious. Books for a desert island, all my old pony books!

 

[MICHAELA8228]

Riders!!!! A proper eye opener for an innocent teen who decided to read her mum's book because of the title!!!! Lol!!!!!